Confrontations
by JazzM137
Summary: George has found out what has been going on and can see no other way to go on but to confront John, but how will it all end?
1. Chapter 1

It was inevitable. A leopard can never change its spots and John could never curb his roving eye. He had tried ever so hard, but I was aware of a good few 'discrepancies' in his fidelity through the course of our marriage. Even amidst all those flings, the one that I hadn't noticed, the one I would have ranked least likely to occur, was the only one in which John's attention span had been held for longer than the usual running time of a week. For the past two years (at least) he had been fucking Jo Mills' brains out, and I was totally oblivious! He didn't know I knew about his little extra-marital arrangement but by god he soon knew that I knew everything! Sitting in the armchair facing the door, I lay in wait, a tumbler of whiskey in my hand. I could hear a key in the lock, the sound of the lock slowly turning. A few seconds later I could hear a hand on the handle of the living room door, my heart raced and I steeled myself. It was Charley.

"Hi mum, I'm just getting changed then going to Laura's." She looked at me, "Are you alright mum?" I smiled what was meant to be a reassuring smile and said,

"I'm just waiting for your father." Charley guessed what kind of conversation was to commence when John finally returned from 'helping Jo prepare her case' and now all her movements seemed to have an air of urgency to them. It wasn't long before Charley was rushing out of the door pulling her jumper over her head with not so much as a backwards "goodbye", but as she opened the front door to leave I did hear her say something to someone on the step. I assumed it was John and she was warning him. Charley had always been an insufferable 'Daddy's Girl' ever since she was born. It never really bothered me, except when she told him everything. I heard the door click closed and I fortified myself with a sip of the whiskey I still held in my right hand.

"Hi darling, had a good day?" Was John's opening gambit as he stepped into the room metaphorically testing the water. I decided not to expose my hand to early,

"My day was fine. Yours? How was Jo?" A small flicker of a smile played across John's features at the mention of Jo's name. He checked himself and tried to look as innocent as possible,

"Everything is fine with me, Jo is fine."

"Are the two mutually dependant?"

"Pardon?" John was playing for time,

"Well… is the status of your day dependant on the status of Jo's?" John scoped the room looking for a get out clause, anything that he could turn my attention to, his eyes snapped to the glass in my hand,

"How much have you drunk?"

"What a patronising, condescending and utterly male remark! I haven't drunk nearly enough for cheap tricks like that to work on me!" I had drunk enough however not to care how I told him that I knew what he was doing, "I know that you've been seeing Jo Mills…"

"Of course I have, I've been helping her with her case, and how do you expect me to do that without seeing her"

"Don't be such a bloody pedant! I know you've been fucking Jo Mills! Is that clear enough for you? I know what you've been doing and…" John had started to turn around and walk away, "Don't you dare leave!"

"I'm not going to talk to you when you're like this!" this was the too much. I wanted to rant and rave at him, he was in the wrong and he should take it like a man but there he was ever confident in his infallibility and it infuriated me. Without thinking about what I was doing I lifted my right arm and threw my glass at him. An arc of golden liquid shot through the air as the Waterford Crystal made its way towards John's head. As the glass hit the wall fractions of a centimetre away from John's head everything froze, the clocks were silent, the road was still, I don't think I was even breathing. John looked at me, unflustered,

"I'll be back when you've calmed down."


	2. Chapter 2

The tires squealed on the slick cobbles as I stopped outside Jo Mills' house. When I got into the car I had no idea of where I was heading and I left on autopilot. Stepping out of the car and activating the central locking I walked towards the door I steeled myself for the approaching conversation. I rang the bell. It was less than a moment before the door was answered but it felt like nothing less than an excruciating hour before Jo Mills' presence was seen through the frosted glass. The catch on the door clicked and the face that I loved appeared in the open door.

"Jo, darling we need to talk," Jo looked slightly confused and rather worried,

"What is the matter John?"

"I think it's better if we do this inside." My words didn't allay Jo's worries in fact it seemed that it made things worse. Jo moved quickly through her house and entered the living room, gesturing for me to sit down she sat herself on her armchair and looked at me, searching my face for clues, for anything that could let her know what was happening in my head.

"Jo, George knows..." Jo's face blanched. She looked almost sick with emotion.

"How... What?"

"I don't know, I walked into the house and she just started to yell at me, telling me she knew and..." Jo looked worried,

"I'm fucked...We're fucked...Everything is over..." Moving across the room I held Jo's face in my hands and I made her look into my eyes,

"Jo, darling, my love, it shall be alright, don't worry..." Jo shook her face from my hands and looked over into the far corner,

"How can this be alright John? George is going to massacre me, she's going to rip apart my career, and she is going to feed me to the bloody wolves! And you are telling me that it'll all be fine!" I had no idea what to say, Jo was right, my wife was vicious, vindictive, and powerful and she would stop at nothing to reduce both Jo and I to unemployable wrecks in a vocation within which the elitist maxim of 'It's not what you know but who you know' was golden. Unfortunately for us both, George knew everyone worth knowing and was not afraid to use her contacts. I looked deep into Jo's icy blue eyes, such a cold colour harboured a wealth of warmth, of feeling, of compassion. This was a woman who had so much to give, both legally and emotionally and I wasn't about to let that all go to waste just because I couldn't keep my hands to myself.

"I'm going to sort this out Jo, I can't let you be sacrificed, don't worry, George'll be all to ready to assume that it's all my fault." I couldn't help myself, I kissed her, our lives were falling apart and all I could do was lean forward and kiss her soft lips. She did nothing to stop me, she reciprocated beautifully, she was the woman of my dreams and she was kissing me.

Standing I took a long look at the gorgeous woman sitting in front of me and I decided that no matter what I had to do I would defend her, even if that meant I had to go home and face my slightly drunk wife.

* * *

The key stuck slightly in the door as I pushed it open, anticipating a barrage of glasses to be thrown at my head. I was happily mistaken. Nothing flew at me, physical or verbal, and everything was silent. Moving down the hallway as quietly as possible I tried to escape the wrath of George, a wrath that was almost inevitable for me to incur. Pushing open the living room door I saw George exactly as she was before, the only difference being a rather renewed glass of whisky lolling in her hand.

"George, we need to talk..." She looked at me, her eyes full of contempt,

"Of course we need to talk! What a stupid, cretinously obvious thing to say!" I let her rant at me, I deserved it, "You are unbelievable. I tell you that I know about your affair and what do you do?, you don't offer explanations, you don't beg me not to throw you out, you just stand there looking so damn infallible!" I thought it better not to ask about the half empty glass in her hand. I just let her continue with her furious postulations, "I don't think I'd be quite so angry if it didn't seem like this didn't faze you, that this wasn't such a great tragedy..."

"George, I honestly don't know how to react, I've been a fool a complete and utter fool and I don't know how you can even bear to look at me." In any sober state George would never have fallen for such an obvious ploy but after her little venture into the drinks cabinet she was more malleable, I could see her softening, so I continued, "I understand if you don't want to hear me explain, I'll grab a case and I'll be out of the house," I turned to leave, but before I could walk out of the room I could hear George's voice beckoning from her chair,

"John, wait," I turned back around to look at her "I'm not going to kick you out. We do need to talk though, you need to know just how much you've hurt me," I had never seen George looking so vulnerable, walking towards her I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Looking her straight in the eye I mustered all the sincerity that I could and tried to look as genuine as possible,

"I'll never hurt you like that again, I never meant to hurt you, I love you George, I love only you." The lies tasted bitter in my mouth, and I knew that Jo would understand why I had to do what I had to do, it was self-preservation and nothing more.


End file.
